Cutting the Chain

While he lived, William Randolph Hearst was a hang-the-cost sort of press lord, who treasured his newspapers as though they were rare and lovely gems. But after his death in 1951, control of his empire passed to a businessmen's trusteeship far more interested in profits than in jewel collecting. In recent years, Hearst Corporation President Richard E. Berlin and General Manager Harold G. Kern have kept the bill collector from knocking too loudly by trading off, every now and then, one of the less profitable baubles from the old chain. In 1956, they sold the Chicago American. Three years later, they merged the San Francisco Call-Bulletin with Scripps-Howard's News, characteristically retaining control only of the account books. And last week, for a reported $5,000,000 cash, the Hearst heirs sold the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph (circ. 174,343), which has been losing money at an appalling $3,000,000 annual clip, to the independent Post-Gazette (circ. 272,797). A six-day morning paper, the Post-Gazette will publish mornings, evenings and Sundays as the Post-Gazette & Sun-Telegraph.

Such trips to the jewel box still have not solved the long-range Hearst financial problem. Rather, the sales have merely raised an anxious question in Hearst city rooms across the U.S.: Who's next? A few of the remaining 13 Hearst papers, e.g., the San Antonio Light (circ. 107,483) and the Albany Times-Union (circ. 67,629) still look strong. But even the San Francisco Examiner, Hearst's first paper, which proclaims itself "the monarch of the dailies," faces serious challenge as the city's largest newspaper. In the last ten years, while the Examiner took on 54,520 new subscribers, the rival Chronicle gained 103,401, has narrowed the circulation gap from 65,880 to a slender 16,999. Elsewhere, the picture is even darker. Items:

P: In Detroit, Hearst's afternoon Times is the only one of the city's three dailies that has lost circulation in the last decade. Down to 385,908 from 440,317 in 1950, the Times is now so far behind the growing News (circ. 468,673) that most observers predict the Times will be the next Hearst paper to go to the block.

P: In Baltimore, Hearst executives tried two years ago to bail the ailing News-Post out of the doldrums by sending in a top troubleshooter. Managing Editor William Townes, 50. Ahead of the prosperous Sun papers in circulation, the News-Post had long played second fiddle in advertising revenue, as advertisers shunned a paper addressed almost exclusively to the city's trolley travelers. Townes vastly improved the paper, but was pulled out after two years--much too soon to have any permanent effect.

P: In Los Angeles, Bill Townes now edits the Examiner (circ. 369,537), in a hopeless attempt to compete with the fat and entrenched Times, which since 1950 has gained 102,632 in circulation against the Examiner's 18,101, runs two ad lines to the Examiner's one.

P: In Milwaukee, Hearst's morning Sentinel (circ. 85,684), perennially a distant second to the sleek Journal (circ. 369,418), is widely regarded as one of the most unprofitable papers in the Hearst fold. The Journal has picked up 45,150 in new circulation since 1950, while the Sentinel took on 4,495.

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